Boss of the Year

HARTFORD (CN) – A woman manager claims that relentless sexual harassment from the CEO of Constitution Lube culminated in his making her watch a You Tube video of a woman playing a kazoo with her vagina at a managers’ meeting, then asking what she thought about it. She seeks punitive damages for battery, discrimination and emotional distress.

In her federal complaint, Amy Taylor claims Kurt Pederson, president and CEO of Constitution Lube, sexually harassed her “virtually every time he visited the Southington, Connecticut store.” Taylor says she was the only female manager in the room when Pederson played the video “Amy G. Plays the Kazoo.” She says she “told Mr. Pederson that the video was completely inappropriate.” Then, Taylor says, another male manager laughed and Pederson said, “Don’t worry, guys, we will watch after she leaves.” She says that one purpose of that managers meeting was to discuss sexual harassment. Taylor says she complained to the chief operating officer, who told her that there was “no malice in Mr. Pederson’s conduct.” Soon after, Taylor says, she was constructively fired: told she would have to take a 50 percent pay cut, or transfer to a store that was slated for closure. She is represented by Jeanette Chambers.